A Cure for Stress - The Niagara Region

It's been a fun few days in the life of Giz. We decided to take a few days and take a short jaunt to Niagara Falls . It's pretty fortunate that The Falls are only a short hour's drive from my home. Although I've visited several times, the magnitude of The Falls is nothing short of incredible. Since Niagara Falls is right on the border that separates Canada from the U.S. we have a view of both the Canadian Falls and the American Falls. It's fair to say that the Canadian side is far more spectacular to look at.

Canadian Falls

U.S. Side

I don't think my view from a hotel window really shows the power of the Falls but if you come for a visit, I'd be happy to show you both falls and you be the judge.

We had a plan! Chillaxin' was part of the plan as was being able to participate in some of the local fun things. The Niagara Region is known for it's wines so we booked a full day tour of several of the wineries do do some tasting with a stop for lunch at Olson Foods at Ravine. The restaurant is run in partnership with Ravine Vineyards in St. David's, Ontario. It's a noteworthy restaurant and bakery since it's run by one of our Canadian celebrity chefs Anna Olson. Anna is known for two Food TV shows. The first is called Sugar where we followed a sweet journey in the life of a pastry chef who delights us with accessible baking.







Visiting the restaurant was part of a whole experience. As part of the BloggerAid View and Review group, I'll be receiving Anna's newest cookbook Fresh by Anna Olson for review. The book is also the name of Anna's second Food TV show.



It was nice to be able to meet Anna and have her sign a copy of one of her books for me and get a sense of the person behind the talent. In spite of the fact that she was cooking in the back as well as taping her show at the same time, Anna made a point of coming out to chat for a few minutes.




We had the pleasure of tasting the Gewustraminer wine found at the Ravine Winery that shares the same property as the Ravine.



The Niagara Region is well known internationally for its world class wineries and its ice wines.



The Inniskillen Winery will be the vintner for the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver, British Columbia this year.





and how gorgeous are the grapes at Chateau des Charmes








and of course not to be forgotten, the white grapes


now...this is what I call a cork board -



Weaving through the back roads of the Niagara Region, one of the must stop places along the way is the well known unassuming Picard Peanuts. Housed inside, one can sample and purchase literally ALL things peanuts.



Since "R" is the only human I know who absolutely adores dill pickle chips, how could I not pick up peanuts that taste like dill pickles.



Yeah, I know - pretty out there but well.... I love my son in law :). Psychgrad - she'll get half my stash of wines and ice wine. A really great few days.